Cost-accounting system.



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E. c. ALBREE. COST AOGO UNTING SYSTEM. APPLICATION ZEILBD JUNE B, 1908.

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E. G. ALBREE. GOST ACCOUNTING SYSTEM. APPLIO'ATION FILED JUNE a, 1903.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD C. ALBREE, OF SWAMPSCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ALBREE SELFFIGURING SYSTEM COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFMASSACHUSETTS.

COST-ACCOUNTING SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD O. ALBREE, citizen of the United States,residing at Swampscott, in the county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inCost- Accounting Systems, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My present invention has for its object to provide a labor saving devicewhich may be employed in making out the bills for customers of companiesdealing in commodities which are measured by meters located on theconsumers premises, such for instance as water, gas, electricity, etc. Abill for this purpose is shown and described in my application forUnited States Letters Patent filed January 11, 1908, Serial No. 410,433,but the device as shown and described in the said application isapplicable only where the commodity is supplied at what is shown as aflat rate, that is, where no discount is made for prompt payment.

The present invention provides a bill which may be used when it isdesired to give a discount for payment on or before a certain date. Inthe application just referred to, there is shown a bill which is givento the meter reader who superposes it upon a card known as the metercard and punches the two cards when in the superposed position at thereading of the meter. This records on the consumers bill the amount ofthe commodity used and the amount of money due the company for it, thusobviating the necessity of making a subtraction and multiplying by theprice. The meter reader then separates one portion of the bill andleaves the remainder of the bill with the consumer. If the consumer paysthe bill to the meter reader, the bill is receipted and another portionis detached and returned to the cashier as the cashiers voucher.

My present invention provides a bill which makes it possible to use thissystem where a discount from the regular rate is given; and in additionto this advantage it possesses all the advantages described in theapplication above referred to.

The bills embodying my present invention not only save the labor andexpense of figuring the price of the commodity and of mailing the billsto the consumers which was saved by the bill shown in my formerapplication, but further save the labor, expense and delay of figuringthe price of the commodity at the discount rate, this last operationbeing performed without any labor additional to that required for theuse of the bill described in my previous application hereinbeforereferred to.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novelfeatures are pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at the closeof the specification.

In the drawings,-Figure 1 is the front face, and Fig. 2 is the back faceof my improved bill. Fig. 3 shows the bill shown in Figs. 1 and 2 infolded condition.

It has not been thought necessary to show the meter readers card and themeter card, one or both of which are commonly employed with my improvedbill, as the said cards are shown and their operation and use is fullydescribed in my application heretofore referred to, their use inconnection with the bill herein described being identical in allrespects. There is shown in the drawings a bill for use by a gas companyfor gas at the rate of $1.00 per thousand feet with a discount of tenper cent. for payment before the fifteenth of the month. Of coursesimilar bills may be used for other commodities, at other rates and uponother terms of payment.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, it will beseen that the bill is divided into three parts and that these parts aredifferently printed on the front and back. The top part A which is blankon the face shown in Fig. 1 is the Auditors coupon. The part B nextbelow it, is the Bill at regular rate and the bottom part C is theOashiers coupon for bill at regular rate. These parts are divided fromeach .other by scoring and the bill is folded as shown in Fig. 3 readyfor use when it is handed to the meter reader. On the back of the partA, is printed the form necessary for the auditors coupon, and this partis designated A in Fig. 2; on the back of the bill at regular rate B isprinted the cashiers coupon for discount bill designated B in Fig. 2;and on the back of the cashiers coupon for bill at regular rate O isprinted the discount bill designated O. The structure of these partswill now be described.

.The bill at regular rate-The bill at regular rate B is provided withthe date 11, and the name and address of the consumer 12, which latteris printed or written upon the bill before it is handed to the meterreader. Below the name and address, appears the legend 13 To the MaldenGas lVorksCompany, D12 On the line next below this, are the words Backbills and a space 14 in which is to be entered at the office the amountowing the company for gas previously used and still unpaid for. The nextline says For gas supplied at $.10 per hundred cu. ft, this being therate without dis-- count and opposite this line is a space 15 for theamount. Beneath the two spaces 14 and 15 is a space 16 for the total.The foregoing construction may be said to be a bill-form, to be filledout to give the consumer a state-. ment of the condition of his account.At

some convenient place appears the legendan arithmetical series'andindicate (in the case shown in the drawings) the number of hundredfeetof gas supplied; that is the numeral 1 indicates 100 feet, and thenumeral 11 indicates 1,100 feet. In the drawing, four columns of fortynumbered spaces each are shown so that the bill may be used to recordany amount of gas up to 16,000 feet. The numbers are placed in thespaces next above (2'. e. tothe right in Fig. 1) those to which theyapply in order that they may not be obliterated by punchin and near thefield- 17 is placed the legend For number of hundred feet supplied readfigure above the punch mark. The bill at regular rate also containsanother series of spaces 19 containing the numbers of the days of themonth or such portion thereof as may be necessary so that by punchingthese spaces the meter reader may indicate the day of the month on whichthe meter was read.

Oashiers coupon for bill at regula1'rate. The cashiers coupon for billat regular rate C has a field 20 divided into spaces which regi'sterwith the spaces of the field 17 on the bill at regular rate, when thecashiers coupon C and bill at regular rate B are folded together; butthe numbers in the spaces of the field 20 contain figures whichrepresent the value in dollars and cents of the gas indicated by'thenumeral in the space of the field 17 with which each space of the field20 registers. Thus, .10 appears in the third space from the left of thetop row of spaces (viewing the bill as in Fig. 1), this being the spacewhich registers with the space of the field 17 which contains thenumber 1. Each of the numbers in the spaces of the field 20 of thecashiers coupon for bill at regular rate C is, therefore, ten times thatof the number in the corresponding space in the field 17. Had the priceper unit been different, the numerals in the spaces of the field 20would have differed correspondingly.

zlurliz ors ooupou.The auditors coupon A (see Fig. 2) is printed on theback of that part of the bill which is marked A in Fig. 1. It isprovided with a field 30 of uniform spaces exactly like the field 17 onthe bill at regular rate B except that the said field 30 is providedwith an additional column of spaces 31 said spaces 31 being left blank.The said extra column of spaces 31 is not essential to the operation ofmy improved bill but affords a convenient means of locating the startingdot 37 which will be presently described more fully. The numbers in thespaces of the field 30 are identical with those in the spaces of thefield 17, but they are placed in the spaces as if the right hand edge ofthe card or slip, as seen in Fig. 2, were the bottom, and begin at theupper right hand corner space 33 of the numbered spaces, so that thenumbers register properly when the bill is folded. In the space 34 islocated a dot 35 known as the lower starting dot and in the space 36 asecond dot 37 known as the upper starting dot. These dots are for thepurpose of assisting the meter reader to locate the bill properly withrelation to the card with which the bill is punched; and the purpose andmode of operation of these dots have been fully explained in my previousapplication heretofore referred to. The auditors coupon is also providedwith a series of spaces 32 containing the number of so many of the daysof the month as appear in the series of spaces 19 on the bill at regularrate B, and the said spaces 32 are located to register with the spaces19 of the bill at regular rate B and the spaces 59 of the discount billC, when the bill is folded.

Oasizers coupon for discount bZZ.-The cashiers coupon for discount billB is exactly like the eashiers coupon for bill at regular rate exceptthat the numbers in the spaces of the field 41 are each 10% less thanthe corresponding numbers of the cashiers coupon for bill at regularrate C, and the numbers of t-hefield 11 are arranged as if the righthand edge of the bill as seen in,

Fig. 2 were the bottom of the cashiers coupon for discount bill. Thusthe space 42 of the field 11 contains .09 instead of .10 as in the caseof the space 21 of the field 20; and the space 43 contains 4.95 insteadof 5.00 as in the case of space 22 of the field 20.

Discount bz'ZZ.The discount bill C is of the same general form as thebill at regular rate B, but as seen in Fig. 2 is bottom side up, thisbeing for proper registration. I t is provided with a space 51 for thedate, another 52 for the name and address of the customer, the companysname 53, and the space 54 for the amount of the back bills. The nextspace 55 is labeled For gas supplied at 10c. for 100 cu. ft. less 10%discount if paid on or before the 15th. The next space 58 is for thetotal. There also appears on the bill the legend Use this bill if paidon or before the 15th of June. The discount bill also bears a field-56of numbered spaces identical in all respects with the numbered portionof the field 30 on the auditors coupon A. The discount bill is alsoprovided with a series of spaces 59 containing the number of so many ofthe days of the month as appear in the series of spaces 19 and 32 onregular rate bill B and the reverse side A of the auditors couponrespectively. All of the fields of numbered spaces register when thebill is folded so that a punch will make a mark in a similarly locatedspace of each field at the same time. The reverse side of the bill; thatis, the side shown in Fig. 2, is preferably printed in red ink while thefront face of the bill is preferably printed in black ink so that theblack ink side shall indicate the price at the regular rate, while thered ink side shall indicate the price after the discount for promptpayment has been made.

The use of my improved discount bill is exactly the same as that shownin my application heretofore mentioned except in so far as it providesmeans for figuring the discount on the bill. When the meter reader readsthe meter, he punches the bill in its folded condition as shown at F andG, Fig. 3, said bill being usually superposed on a meter or readerscard, said punch marks also appearing at various places and also markedF and G on the other figures. These punch marks indicate that 10,700feet of gas have beeniconsumed as seen from the field 30 on the reverseside A of the auditors coupon A; the field 17 on the bill at regularrate B and the field 56 on the discount bill 'C. It also shows that theconsumer owes $10.70 for the gas at the regular rate (see the cashierscoupon C) or $9.63 at the discount rate (see the cashiers coupon fordiscount bill B). If the consumer pays for the gas on the spot, thediscount bill C .is filled out with the amount $9.63 and the bill isrec-eipted by the reader who turns in the money to the cashier with thecashiers coupon for discount bill B, turning in the auditors coupon A tothe auditor. If the bill is not paid before the 15th of the month, thepayment must be made at the regular rate and for the amount $10.70indicated on the cashiers coupon for bill at regular rate .0.

When the bill is paid at the oflice, the proper form indicated by thecolor is used according to the time when the payment is made, whetherbefore or after the 15th of the month, no black coupons being receivedby the cashiers before the 15th and no red ones after the 15th.

I claim as my invention:

1. The improved bill provided with three or more fields of spaces ofuniform size located to register with each other when the bill isfolded, the spaces of one of said fields being provided with numeralsforming an arithmetic series, another of said fields being provided withnumerals each of which is a multiple of the numeral in the registeringspace of the first mentioned field, and another of said fields beingprovided with numerals each of which is also a multiple of the numeralin the registering space of the first mentioned field, one factor of themultiples for the numbers of said two last mentioned fields beingdifferentfor each field but the same for all the numbers of any fie d.

2. The improved bill comprising a card having thereon a bill-formprovided with spaces and with legends therefor said card being alsoprovided with three or more fields of spaces of uniform size located toregister with each other when the bill is folded, the spaces of one ofsaid fields being provided with numerals forming an arithmetic series,another of said fields being provided with numerals, each of which is amultiple of the numeral in the registering space of the first mentionedfield, and another of said fields being provided with numerals each ofwhich is also a multiple of the numeral in the registering space of thefirst mentioned field, one factor of the multiples for said two lastmentioned fields being difierent for each field but the same for all thenumbers of each field.

3. The improved bill comprising a card having thereon three or morefields of spaces of uniform size located to register with each otherwhen the said card is folded, the spaces of one of said fields beingprovided with numbers forming an arithmetic series, the spaces ofanother of said fields being provided with numbers each of which is thenumber in the registering space in the first mentioned field multipliedby a constant, and the spaces of another of said fields being providedwith numbers each of which is the number in the registering space of thefirst mentioned field multiplied by another constant.

4. The improved bill comprising a card having thereon a bill-formprovided with spaces and with legends therefor said card being alsoprovided with three or more fields of spaces of uniform size located toregister with each other when the bill is folded, one

of said fields being located on the front face of the card and havingthe spaces thereof provided with numerals forming an arithmetic series,another of said fields being located also on the front face of the cardand having the spaces thereof provided with numerals each of which is amultiple of the numeral in the registering space of the first mentionedfield, and another of said fields 11)? being located on the back'face ofsaid card of uniform size located to register with each other when thebill is folded, one of said fields being located on the front face ofthe card and having the spaces thereof provided with numerals forming anarithmetic series, another of said fields being located also on thefront face of the card and having the spaces thereof provided withnumerals each of which is the number in the registering space in thefirst mentioned field multiplied by a constant, and another of saidfields being located on the back face of said card and the spacesthereof provided with numerals each of which is the number in theregistering space of the first mentioned field multiplied by anotherconstant said first and last mentioned fields being on opposite faces ofthe same portion of the card.

6. The improved bill comprising a card having on each face thereof abill-form provided with spaces and with legends therefor said card beingalso provided with three or more fields of spaces of uniform sizelocated to register with each other when the bill is folded, one of saidfields being located on the front face of the card and having the spacesthereof provided with numerals forming an arithmetic series, another ofsaid fields being located also on the front face of the card and havingthe spaces thereof provided with numerals each of which is a multiple ofthe numeral in the registering space of the first mentioned field, andanother of said fields being located on the back face of said card andhaving the spaces thereof provided with numerals each of which is also amultiple of the numeral in the registering space of the first mentionedfield, one factor of the multiples for said last two mentioned fieldsbeing different for each field but the same for all the numbers of eachfield said first and last mentioned fields being on opposite faces ofthe same portion of the card.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

EDXVARD C. ALBREE. Vitnesses Gnonen P. DIKE. ALroE H. MORRISON.

